Friday, July 8, 2011

Top 10 Reads of the Week – July 8, 2011

Smoke belching from Asia's rapidly growing economies is largely responsible for a halt in global warming in the decade after 1998 because of sulphur's cooling effect, even though greenhouse gas emissions soared, a U.S. study said on Monday.

The paper raised the prospect of more rapid, pent-up climate change when emerging economies eventually crack down on pollution… Read the Rest (and try not to giggle)

Global Warming and Global Food Security – Patrick Michaels [Forbes]

Almost every major American daily newspaper picked up an article published earlier this month by New York Times scribe Justin Gillis entitled “A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself.”

How many times have we read, in the last 50 years, that this or that environmental apocalypse is going to starve the world? I got my doctorate on the wings of one; at that time it was called “global cooling,” after a 1974 CIA report leaked to the Times said that rapidly cooling planetary temperatures could usher in an era of heightened global instability caused by food shortages… Read the Rest

Obama snubs Reagan – Don Surber [Don Surber Blog]

The people of England erected a statue to Ronald Reagan and dedicated it on the Fourth of July in the year of the 100th anniversary of the Gipper’s birth.

Do We Want the Casey Anthony Jury on Terrorist Trials? – David French [NRO’s The Corner Blog]

Or the O.J. Simpson jury? Or any of the other capricious juries from high-profile trials with talented legal teams?

For civilian trials, which result from real police work in peaceful America, the jury system is the best system we’ve got, regardless of individual (though notorious) anomalies. But given the choice between civilian juries and military commissions for captured terrorists, why choose the civilian jury?… Read the Rest

The White House tries to spin its own economists' conclusions that the Democrats' massive, ineffective stimulus package cost a whopping $278,000 per job. If only it was that cheap.

On the Friday of the July 4th weekend, obviously hoping that few would notice, President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers released a report on the effects of the $800 billion-plus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Keynesian stimulus that the president claims saved America from a second Great Depression… Read the Rest

The Great Recession, Part II – Joseph E. Stiglitz [Slate]

[Ed. note: Because it’s important to pay attention to how the other half thinks…]

Just a few years ago, a powerful ideology—the belief in free and unfettered markets—brought the world to the brink of ruin. Even in its heyday, from the early 1980s until 2007, American-style deregulated capitalism brought greater material well-being only to the very richest of the richest country of the world. Indeed, over the course of this ideology's 30-year ascendance, most Americans saw their incomes decline or stagnate… Read the Rest

OVER at Democracy in America, a colleague embarks on an interesting discussion highlighting the similarities between the institutional roots of economic troubles in Europe and America. Then, alas, he goes astray… Read the Rest

Two high-ranking members of Congress are accusing the Justice Department of a cover-up related to a federal operation that reportedly sent American guns to violent Mexican drug gangs.

Citing private testimony from the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter dated Tuesday that acting ATF director Kenneth Melson met with the House panel’s staff on July 4 and reported that DOJ had concealed information about the operation, including the involvement of the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration…. Read the Rest

MAD in the 21st Century – Cliff May [National Review Online]

On Tuesday, June 28, outside the holy city of Qom, the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran test-fired 14 ballistic missiles, including long- and medium-range Shahab missiles and short-range Zelzal missiles. Also near Qom, new and improved centrifuges are turning out more enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

In addition, departing defense secretary Robert Gates noted last month that North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development “now constitute[] a direct threat to the United States. . . . They are developing a road-mobile [intercontinental ballistic missile]. . . . It’s a huge problem.”… Read the Rest

Who Among Us Does Not Love an Al Gore Joke? – Simcha Fisher [NCRegister.com]

Twenty years ago, new consumer technology was usually easy to understand., like: Oh, it’s a phone without wires, so you can talk and walk around. Oh, it’s a Datasette for your VIC-20, so you can store Q*bert for later enjoyment while playing Radar Rat Race. Oh, it’s a crimper, so your hair will look crimpy.

Simple, right? Maybe they weren’t all great products, but they were pretty much self-explanatory. Even if you didn’t want one yourself, you could at least imagine someone who might… Read the Rest

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